Source : Procurement Leaders
In order to avoid having to place cancer warnings on their soft drinks as required with Californian law, Coca-Cola co. and Pepsico are working closely with suppliers to alter the recipe of their drinks.
The alteration will be made to the levels of 4-methylimidazole, a chemical used in caramel colouring, which according to one study has been linked to cancer in mice and rats and has been added to a list of carcinogens that require labelling in California.
The American Beverage Association stated that there is no evidence that it poses a risk to humans while the US Food and Beverage Administration said that a person would have to drink 1000 cans a day to have the same dose as the animals tested.
Diana Garza-Ciarlante, a Coca-Cola representative, told the Associated Press that “While we believe that there is no public health risk that justifies any such change, we did ask our caramel suppliers to take this step so that our products would not be subject to the requirement of a scientifically unfounded warning."
The change in recipe has already been made to drinks in California but will be copied across the US to streamline manufacturing.